1. YOUR LIBRARY SUCKS.
jsconf.eu :: 25 Sept 2010 :: Peter Higgins

2. BUT YOU SHOULD USE IT.
jsconf.eu :: 25 Sept 2010 :: Peter Higgins

3. Me.
Dojo Toolkit Project Lead
JavaScript Engineer @joost / Adconion
Blogs Infrequently :: http://higginsforpresident.net
Codes @GitHub :: http://github.com/phiggins42
Twitter: @phiggins
Beer Drinking Expert

4. It’s Just JavaScript TM
Lovable, Simple
Self Healing
Promiscuous
Ubiquitous

5. The Good Parts
Context :: apply/call/hitch/partial
AOP, FTW. (duck punch...)
Prototypes, also FTW
Module Loading (/me jokes)

6. The Bad Parts
Date() :: designed with evil.
The DOM :: also designed with evil.
with() and eval() :: allegedly evil.

7. Teh Libraries
Dojo
YUI
Mootools / Prototype
FuseJS (?)
EmbedJS (?)
jQuery
Your own

8. LOVABLE, SIMPLE.

9. Libraries are a crutch
Learn JavaScript first
Know enough to dislike parts
Supplement those parts
Don’t be afraid of the word `prototype`
If you don’t know $.fn === $.prototype, quit (or learn)

10. PROMISCUOUS
Also known as Loose Typing

11. SELF-HEALING

12. BASIC AOP <3
// I can fix anything:
var oldfunction = some.oldFunction;
some.oldFunction = function(){
oldfunction.apply(some, arguments); // closures, ftw.
}

13. Philosophically
Fixes on the Natives vs Namespaced fixes
SomeString.trim() vs mylibrary.trim(SomeString)
mylibrary = {};
mylibrary.trim = String.prototype.trim ? function(str){
return str.trim();
} : function(str){ /* do the “fun” stuff */ };

14. Bind/Curry/Whatever
Context manipulation, FTW
mylibrary.bind = Function.prototype.bind ? function(fn, context){
return fn.bind(context);
} : function(fn, context){
return function(){
return fn.apply(context, arguments);
}
}

15. EASY TO ABUSE :(

16. DON’T DO THIS:
$(“div button#bar”).click(function(){
$(‘#bam’).addClass(“bar”);
$(‘#bam’).css(“width”, “200px”)
$(‘#bam’).animate({ width: “+=100” })
}).click();

17. To be fair ...
// easy to write bad code in any library:
var $ = dojo.query;
$(“div button#bar”).onclick(function(){
$(‘#bam’).addClass(“bar”);
$(‘#bam’).css(“width”, “200px”)
$(‘#bam’).animate({ width: 300 })
}).trigger(‘click’);

18. Why not:
var clicker = function(){
$(“#bam”)
.addClass(“bar”)
.css({ width:”200px” })
.animate({ width:”300px” })
}
$(“#bar”).click(clicker);
clicker();

19. UBIQUITOUS
“But can it run JavaScript?”

20. Device Penetration
Browsers, Now
Desktop, Mobile, Device
Server
Rhino
V8
Spidermonkey

21. Future Browsers?
Kitchen Crap
Televisions
Washer / Dryer?
...

22. COMMONJS
is piggybacking.

23. CommonJS
Modules should be in the language, not here.
Forgot about the browser (see: Modules)
Though has nothing to do with the DOM
A bit late?
Only more time will tell.

24. STANDARDS.
Yep. We (kinda) have them.

25. MDC: Array.prototype
Array.forEach / map / filter / indexOf / etc etc
None of us handle sparse arrays to spec
jQuery.map vs jQuery().map offends my senses
dojo.map(ar, “return item * 2”) is too much magic

26. “Portability”
[1,2,3].forEach(function(item, index){ ... }, context);
dojo.forEach([1,2,3], function(item, index){ ... }, context);
jQuery.each([1,2,3], function(index){ /* this == item */ });
Y.Array.each([1,2,3], function(item, index){ ... }, context)
Fuse.win([1,2,3], function(item, index){ ... }, context);

27. MDC: Fn.proto.bind
“this” is important.
var obj = {
counter:0,
inc: function(howmuch){ this.counter += howmuch || 0; }
};
var pfn = obj.inc.bind(obj, 5); // native, moo, proto way
var dfn = dojo.hitch(obj, “inc”, 5), // dojo
var dfn2 = dojo.hitch(obj, obj.inc, 5); // dojo is backwards
var jfn = jQuery.proxy(obj, “inc”); // so is jq. only w/ strings (also can’t pass args)
var jfn2 = jQuery.proxy(obj.inc, obj); // this is just plain inconsistent (no args here either)

28. I’M MISSING THE POINT?
No, i’m not being clear.

29. Your library sucks, still.
I’m a grumpy old man. </rant>
No compelling reason for YOU not to use them
If you understand what it’s doing
If you don’t MIX
Non-trivial tasks
Portability

30. Library Benefits
Deferred development cost
Open Source / Many Eyes
Battle-tested
Common / Consistent APIs

31. I WANT TO CHANGE TOPICS
Really. Let’s move forward, instead.

32. Propose: CommonBrowserJS
Reduce what we’ve learned over the years
Common Library to build upon
No Magic, Pure Standards
No UA sniffs, pure `feature detection`
Can load CommonJS modules/packages
Try to be agnostic? Back to Dojo beginnings.

33. Small Problems are Easy
MDC / ECMA standards are easy. What next?
Modularity
Stability (regressions, deprecation, sane versioning)
Localization/Internationalization? (l10n, i18n)

34. First pass: has.js
Agnostic Core
pure Feature Detection framework
API not as important as converging on test implementations
Naming shit is hard.

35. DOJO ALREADY DID IT.
@dojodidit - Really, We probably have.

36. DISCUSS.
Done talking. Ask questions if you like.

37. AAAAND THANKS.
#jsconfeu FTW, 2010 - enjoy the rest of the conference.

38. Me, again:
http://dante.dojotoolkit.org
http://higginsforpresident.net
http://twitter.com/phiggins
http://github.com/phiggins42
phiggins @ irc.freenode.net